Southern Cross achieves transpacific 1 Tb/s milestone

Southern Cross Cables has achieved a significant milestone by connecting the world's first transpacific 1 terabit per second (Tb/s) single-carrier wavelength over its extensive 13,500-kilometre live production network through the utilisation of Ciena's WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e) coherent optics.

This development saw the WL6e perform successfully at 1 Tb/s over the longest single optical submarine cable segment currently in existence, highlighting notable spectral efficiencies and capabilities.

Southern Cross is set to commence wide-scale deployment of the WL6e starting in the first quarter of 2025 on various segments of its network. This includes the Southern Cross NEXT cable, which supports minimal latency connectivity between key hubs such as Sydney, Auckland and Los Angeles.

Laurie Miller, President and CEO of Southern Cross Cables Limited, stated: "Transforming and modernising our networks to support next-generation applications and growing bandwidth demands is part of our ongoing 20+ year commitment to the Pacific. Working with Ciena and adapting our network with their latest coherent optical solution illustrates our pledge to the ongoing enhancement of critical digital infrastructure for our region." Miller added, "In today's increasingly hyper-connected world, delivering an incredible customer experience depends on the ability of Southern Cross to create services and provide the capacity needed to meet constantly changing demands. Ciena's WL6e technology once again allows us to deliver on that ambition."

The advanced channel speed functioned error-free at a bandwidth of 1 Tb/s from Sydney to Los Angeles, marking a record achievement in spectral efficiency. Southern Cross plans to roll out the WL6e technology on extensive parts of the network moving forward. Furthermore, this implementation is expected to cater to the increasing bandwidth demands driven by AI, content, video, and cloud applications.

Southern Cross operates a robust system comprising three trans-Pacific submarine cables, which interlink Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and Hawaii to the United States, alongside the Pacific Islands including Nukunonu, Tokelau, and Kiritimati, Kiribati. These networks span approximately 45,000 kilometres of submarine cables and 4,300 kilometres of terrestrial fibre optics, providing a digital interconnectivity capability exceeding 100 Tb/s that ensures secure and resilient connectivity across the Pacific region.

The use of Ciena's GeoMesh Extreme solution, which incorporates the 6500 Packet-Optical Platform powered by WL6e, is pivotal in upgrading the capacity by more than 100 times the original design potential.

This is achieved by utilising the same infrastructure that was initially meant to transport wavelengths of 2.5 Gb/s scale.

Dino DiPerna, Senior Vice President, Global Research and Development, Ciena, commented: "As AI and cloud applications continue to increase capacity requirements for data centres, cloud and service providers are working with private cable operators like Southern Cross to expand their footprint and offer reliable connectivity.

With Ciena's WaveLogic 6 high-performance optics, these service providers can support the move towards 800G services to connect data centres and build AI-ready networks with greater scale."

Southern Cross's implementation of Ciena's technology is a step forward in modernising its offerings, providing higher-capacity wavelengths and ushering in support for future 800 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) client services amidst increasing digital demands.